Mushroom man pleads not guilty

A Westlake Village man charged with selling hallucinogenic mushrooms that led to a teenager's death in 2004 pleaded not guilty last week at U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

Stephen Roman was indicted by a federal grand jury last month on charges that he sold hallucinogenic mushrooms to a group of young people at a Thousand Oaks apartment. Newbury Park resident Victoria Nugent, who was 17 at the time, took the drugs and left the apartment. She was walking without clothing on Highway 101 in Newbury Park when she was struck and killed by a motorist.

According to a criminal complaint filed Jan. 20, Roman admitted to detectives that he was the one who sold the mushrooms. He reportedly sold two, 2-ounce bags containing the drug and said he warned one of the young male partygoers that the batch was particularly strong.

Following Nugent's death, 18year-olds Brian Mitchell and Alissa Ruef and 19-year-old Jonathan Martinez were charged with giving drugs to a minor. The three were at the apartment complex the night of the incident.

Manslaughter charges against Martinez and Mitchell were later dropped, but both pleaded guilty to the drug charge and were sentenced to 270 days in jail. The sentence was suspended and neither served any time.

Ruef pleaded guilty to lying to police about the events leading up to Nugent's death and was put on three year's probation.

Roman was already in custody in Ventura County for selling Ecstasy to a police informant. That case was dropped. Roman remains in federal custody for the Nugent death. He faces a minimum of 20 years imprisonment because his drug sale resulted in a death. Life in prison is also a possibility.